Saturday, June 30, 2007

Hospital visits increasing

A reader just alerted me to an article put out by MSNBC.com, reporting that “Hospital and doctor visits in the United States have surged by 20 percent in the past five years…” I read the piece with dismay for it seems people are suffering more and more, rather than less.

With the huge increase in money spent on healthcare, in the USA anyway, it seems people have more and more ailments to contend with. Some argue that it’s the aging baby boom population behind the increase in hospital visits. Maybe so, but the trend is still disheartening.

I remember an 88 year old woman, whom I befriended 20 years ago in my practice, who hadn’t been to a doctor in 50 years—ever since she had discovered Christian Science when she was 38. She has since passed on, but her experience was proof to me that it’s possible to stay healthy without endless medicines, prescriptions and hospital visits, even at a ripe old age. She had spiritual medicine, and it worked.

Everyone has the healing power of Spirit available to them. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, the textbook of Christian Science, explains how to find this healing power and put it into practice. Christian Science brings better long term results than any drug, and it has no negative side effects.

I pray that more people find Christian Science and put it to use. Its application will eliminate many of those visits to emergency rooms—and it’s a lot less devastating on one’s pocketbook.
By Evan Mehlenbacher
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13 comments:

Emily said...

I rather think we've got an epidemic of "taking thought." We're so obsessed with our health in this country -- and so bombarded with messages from drug companies trying to convince us that we're sick so they can sell us a cure -- that it's hard not to buy into the constant aggressive mental suggestions around us.

Along those lines, I've got a question for you: I'm about to start training for my third marathon. I've been told many times that cross-training and a more balanced diet would help my performance tremendously. On the one hand, common sense would suggest that a few reps on the ab machine and a diet a little heavier on vegetables and pasta and a little lighter on bacon double cheeseburgers and doughnuts certainly won't hurt me, but on the other hand, I don't want to get too caught up in the physical end of things.

As an athlete yourself, how do you strike a balance between the absolute and the relative in terms of training, diet, etc.?

June 30, 2007 at 9:31 AM
evan said...

Hi Emily,

On my thoughts about diet, training, etc...

I listen to what is going on in my consciousness. Am I harboring fears about my diet? If so, they need to be addressed. Am I harboring fears about how well I'm training, or not training? If so, they need to be addressed.

I address them spiritually.

For example, you mention eating perhaps too many double cheeseburgers and donuts. If that were me, I'd ask, "Why am I eating that food? Do I need too? Am I making a god out of it? Can I let it go and eat other food without feeling deprived?"

I believe many people make more of a god out of soda pop, donuts, and junk food than more health conscious people make a god out of their vitamins and organic food. It can work both ways.

So, for me, I want to eat and not be taking thought for what I eat. If I'm taking thought, either in the form of "This food is bad for me." Or in the form of "This food is good for me." Then I'm off somewhere in my thinking. There should be no thought for what we eat. So I eat, or try to, what requires me to take no thought. And generally, that is food that most people would consider healthy sound choices--the simple basics.

When Jesus said, "Take no thought," he didn't mean reckless carelessness. He meant "Take thought for God, for Truth," then you'll always be safe.

This is an on-going demonstration for me...so won't claim to have mastered it yet. But this is my approach for now.

Hope that helps!

June 30, 2007 at 9:49 AM
Emily said...

Thanks, Evan. That makes a lot of sense.

I'd been playing with the idea of going vegetarian again -- mostly for environmental reasons, but also to get my diet under control a little bit -- and the main thing stopping me was the fear that I'd have to take WAY too much thought to get back on the veggie wagon.

Thing is, when I was a vegetarian in college, after I got over the initial learning curve, I didn't really think about my meals at all. The same thing seems to have happened with a colleague who went on Weight Watchers recently.

On the other side of the coin, I had to take a LOT of thought to give up booze, smokes, and caffeine when I came back to CS. I know those things just fall away easily for some people, but I really had to work at it.

I think maybe my weight gain over the past couple of years has to do with my feeling that I deserve as many treats as I want because I'm being SUCH a good girl to pass up smoke breaks and choke down decaf swill. Instead of giving up my other vices, I swapped 'em for food.

I think for the time being, I'm going to go ahead and veg again. It's a good thing to do, and it comes more naturally to me -- and thus requires less thought -- than a lot of other means I might employ to get over my food obsession.

And if I catch myself getting too wound up about it, I can always go have a steak. ;)

June 30, 2007 at 10:58 PM
Anonymous said...

Would you say that Medical magnetism has been spread for economic gain? How prevalent would the increase in material treatment be if there was no exorbitant financial profit in pharmaceutical sales and hospital care? I suppose if our wellbeing was not a natural state of existence, the economics of the medical related industries would strangle themselves because everyone would be too sick or dead and therefore unable to contribute.

July 1, 2007 at 5:57 AM
evan said...

To Emily,

Keep "hungering and thirsting" after the bread of Life, and those concerns and worries about food will drop away.

There is a natural contentment and safe satisfaction that comes from being caught up into spiritual-mindedness. The mortal cravings fall away as the immortal cravings for spiritual Truth are genuinely met.

July 1, 2007 at 8:11 AM
evan said...

To anon,

I agree, that there is a huge baneful influence over public thought from all the advertising going on promoting disease and causing fears to grow in people's thought. This needs to be handled to get sickness under control, and reduce hospital visits!

July 1, 2007 at 8:13 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm very interested in the posts about being a vegetarian. I have been thinking about this a lot recently. We say that animals are also ideas of God, and it doesn't feel right to eat God's ideas. I don't think much of it when I pick up a package of meat at the grocery store, but I have seen documentaries on how cows, chickens, and pigs end up on our plates, and when I remember that, it's very hard to eat it.
Don't you think that eating meat is not a very spiritually-minded thing to do? Just as we object to material medica and their imposition on us about medications, couldn't the meat industry also be a similar imposition on man, saying it's normal and okay to eat God's creatures?

July 2, 2007 at 1:43 PM
Emily said...

I think -- and I don't want to hijack this thread, because this is Evan's blog -- but I think, at least for me, that the problem is not so much the concept of eating animals in general, but the practices involved in modern "factory farming" operations, which supply the vast majority of the meat sold in the United States. I personally have some deep concerns about the way these companies treat the animals, the environment, their competitors, and even their own employees.

That said, I think what you eat and where you get it is less important than your motive. If you think a company is behaving immorally, you should probably boycott that company. If you think it's wrong to eat meat, you should probably stop eating meat. Matter ... doesn't. Motive ... does.

July 2, 2007 at 7:10 PM
evan said...

To anon above asking about eating meat...

I never have got caught up into a vegetarian's line of reasoning, so haven't given it a lot of thought. Although I respect a vegetarian's reasons for taking what they feel is a morally responsible position.

I love animals. Have raised many as a farmer in the past. And have many pets for the children.

I take heart, that in the long run, and I mean the loooong run, we will not be eating animals, but living by Truth and Love. The lion shall lie next to the lamb, the Bible prophesy's. In the meantime, I agree with Emily, that motive is key and the most important thing.

A vegetarian who takes a self-righteous stand, even in the name of compassion for animals, would be in a worse spiritual position than a humble meat-eater. What is happening in our thinking is what determines how close to God we are. Outward acts can be fictitious and for show. Each person has to answer these questions between themselves and God, I believe. So I judge not.

For myself, I would consider it a very large amount of thought-taking right now to figure out a meatless menu, and still demonstrate dietary balance, compared to the need to stay focused on my practice of healing others of their pain and suffering which requires me to not focus on food and body. I can say for a fact, though, that the quantity of meat I eat is much less now than in earlier years. Not from any thought about it though. Just out of moderation and temperance and other good healthy qualities.

It's not what you put in your mouth that makes you spiritual. It's what is happening in Mind.

I think you have a hint of a right idea, but it will take time and great increase in spiritual understanding around the world to be fully realized. In the meantime, to maintain the greater good, we offer a "Suffer it to be so now," approach.

There's no reason why we can't love our animals more though no matter what!

July 2, 2007 at 10:02 PM
Emily said...

I think diet is an extremely individual thing. And I completely agree with Evan's assessment of self-righteous vegetarians (or self-righteous anybody else). For me, switching from an animal-based diet to a vegetarian diet requires very little thought, largely because I've done it before -- many times, and for varying reasons -- and thus do not need to read labels or ponder lists of ingredients any more. I know what I like, I know what I can and can't eat, and (this is a big key), I'm not too picky about it.

For Evan, however, who did not spend the past 15 years going on and off the veggie wagon, a vegetarian diet would require a much greater level of thought.

July 3, 2007 at 6:35 AM
Anonymous said...

Hi Guys!

I've been living up in a tiny town in Northern Idaho, Clark Fork, 500 pop. and just loving the simplicity and beauty. People up here aren't in to T.V. and all the "Hoopla" of modern living. We live simply and Love Big. Wonderful town full of Heartful people.

About the surge in medical/hospital stuff - I really feel that materialism, animal magnetism, evil, error, whatever you want to call it is trying really hard to hold on, to make a comeback, to be the winner. "The high Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until it's inarticulate voice is forever silenced in oblivian." (MBE - S & H)

There is so much spiritual consciousness on the planet right now - so many people waking up, but it's not what you hear about in the News. Evil, error, materialism is pushing hard now on people, because it feels its own demise. As Mrs. Eddy says, "This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces...." Have no Fear! Good always wins over Evil, Truth is always the Victor, because in reality that's all there is! Love is the Liberator!
Go God!

July 3, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Anonymous said...

I agree with the last contributor’s comments where he or she said, “Have no Fear! Good always wins over Evil, Truth is always the Victor, because in reality that's all there is! Love is the Liberator! Go God!”

My own comment is about what we choose to eat.

I read in the Bible, Genesis 9:3-4, where God speaks to Noah (this was after the flood) saying, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and as I gave you green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” So, as I read this, it is approved by God that men eat animal meat for food, so long as the blood is drained before eating.

Earlier, before the flood came, God said, “Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food” (Gen. 1:29). Apparently before the flood mankind enjoyed a vegetarian diet, and after the flood meat was to be included as an option in his/her diet.

July 3, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Emily said...

"The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it."
SH 426:5-8

I think each individual should eat whatever he thinks he should eat based on his highest sense of right, allow others to do likewise, and let it go. To do otherwise is to "count ... footsteps" and bog ourselves down in material concerns that contribute absolutely nothing to our spiritual growth.

In my case, whether or not I eat meat is irrelevant. I am dealing with a practical need (a sensible diet consistent with my athletic goals) and an underlying spiritual issue (a tendency to look to something other than God -- in this case, junk food -- for satisfaction), and based on my personal experiences, I find that vegetarianism seems to be the most useful tool at my disposal for meeting the practical need and exercising dominion over my eating habits while I work on the underlying spiritual issue.

July 3, 2007 at 4:39 PM

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